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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25932490">Not A Joke</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/disneyswiftie/pseuds/disneyswiftie'>disneyswiftie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tyrus Oneshots [27]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Andi Mack (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Anxious Cyrus Goodman, Avoidance, Blood, Confessions, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fear of hospitals, First Kiss, Getting Together, Hanahaki Disease, Happy Ending, Hospital, M/M, Mentions of Death, Mentions of surgery, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Oblivious T. J. Kippen, Panic Attacks, Pining Cyrus Goodman, Secret sickness, Smitten Cyrus Goodman, Supportive Andi Mack, Supportive Buffy Driscoll, The Swing Set (Andi Mack), Truth or Dare, Wingwomen Buffy Driscoll &amp; Andi Mack, fictional illness, minor fluff, sleepover, trigger warning</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:14:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,610</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25932490</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/disneyswiftie/pseuds/disneyswiftie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Wait, is TJ coming?"<br/>"No, I didn't tell him."<br/>...<br/>"It's nothing."<br/>"It's not nothing if you need surgery."<br/>"I...I sort of have this...thing."<br/>"Wow, you have a thing. Very helpful."<br/>...<br/>"You have what?"<br/>"I thought that was a myth."<br/>"How long?"<br/>"About a month..."<br/>"A MONTH?!"</p><p>----</p><p>Cyrus has Hanahaki, and makes it his mission that nobody finds out.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cyrus Goodman/T. J. Kippen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tyrus Oneshots [27]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720249</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>63</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Not A Joke</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>TRIGGER WARNING⚠️:<br/>~blood<br/>~fictional illness<br/>~*mentions* of death &amp; surgery<br/>~panic attacks<br/>~fear of hospitals (not as extreme as a phobia)<br/>----<br/>This oneshot is about the (fictional) Hanahaki Disease. If you aren't already aware of what it is, you should probably look it up before reading or you're going to be super confused lol. Anyway! Enjoy, or if it's too much you can skip this one I understand, that's what the trigger warning is for. This is probably the only fic I'll ever write with blood in it. And before anyone asks, YES, there is a happy ending. There always will be.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cyrus was sitting at the table eating dinner with his parents when it first happened.</p><p>His mother was chatting away with his stepfather, Todd, about some political event Cyrus didn't care to know about. He was about to shove another piece of lasagna into his mouth, but then he heard his phone chime.</p><p>He knew he shouldn't check it at the table, but he was expecting a text from his best friend, TJ. So he set down his fork and took his phone out of his pocket, seeing that TJ had sent him a funny cat video. TJ also had messaged him a bunch of hyper-excited smiley emojis, which made him smile, his heart swelling with warmth.</p><p>After texting back a laughing emoji, and reacting to the original message with a thumbs up, he locked his phone and shoved it back in his pocket. Once he had picked up his fork again, he went to take another bite of his favourite meal, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. He gasped and dropped his fork out of shock, standing up out of the chair.</p><p>This alerted his mother, and she turned to him, concerned. "What's wrong, Cyrus?"</p><p>Not wanting to worry his parents, he choked out, "may I go to the bathroom?"</p><p>He hoped they didn't notice his struggle of speaking.</p><p>"Of course, go ahead. You know you don't need to ask us that," Todd spoke.</p><p>Cyrus then proceeded to speed walk through the house to his bedroom, and into the washroom connected to it. He wanted to run, but that would cause suspicion, so he didn't.</p><p>The moment he got there, he yanked up the toilet seat and began coughing and throwing up blood into the water below. It hurt so badly, and he didn't know what was happening to him. This — having blood come out of your mouth — was clearly not normal.</p><p>When he was done, he started to become immensely scared. Which was understandable, because coughing up blood was obviously a cause for concern. But he also knew that if he told his parents, they would take him to the hospital, and he <em>hated</em> hospitals. He also really hated being smothered, which he would get a lot of from his four parents if they found out.</p><p>Soon, Cyrus felt the room start to spin and he felt like he was going to pass out. He started panting heavily and tears were silently streaming from his eyes. Backing against a wall, he sat down and brought his knees up to his chest, trying to control his breathing.</p><p>Then, he remembered what his therapist had said to him a few months ago: <em>if you have another panic attack, try to remember your senses. Find one thing you can see, one thing you can hear, one thing you can smell, and one thing you can feel.</em></p><p>Cyrus looked around the room and fixed his eyes on an object, whispering, "s-soap."</p><p>Still breathing fast, he focused in on the sound of the air conditioning in the room that he hadn't noticed before. "F-f-fan."</p><p>He breathed in deeply through his nose and mumbled, "pasta."</p><p>Lastly, he reached his shaking hand out to touch something. Anything. He had to move a bit away from the wall but then his hand found the edge of something.</p><p>"B-bathtub," he breathed out finally, and realized he was nearly calm enough to stand. He took a few long, deep breaths before getting up and steadying himself.</p><p>Closing the lid, he flushed, and went to the sink to wash his throat out with water. He decided he would keep this a secret for now, and hope it was just a one-time thing. Because he really did <em>not</em> want to deal with the consequences of a health problem serious enough to need assistance. Hospitals were bad news in Cyrus' eyes, and that was not changing any time soon.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>That night, Cyrus dug through the top drawer of his dresser and took out his journal. He hadn't written in it in awhile but figured he might as well start it up again now. Grabbing a green pen, he lay down on his bed and opened the book to the first empty page. He began to write about his day.</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">Thursday, Jan. 16th, 2020</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">9:14 PM</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">Hey, so I haven't written in here in quite a bit. Today at school the math teacher started adding fractions into the algebra which was confusing but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I usually do. I'm worried about TJ though, because he's not good in math so he might need extra help with this unit. Oh! Speaking of TJ, he sent me the cutest cat video today during dinner. Ugh, I love him so much. I hate having a crush on him. It makes me really nervous to be near him but I'm also super comfortable around him at the same time if that makes any sense? Anyway, my mom made lasagna for dinner which was super delicious (of course it was, it's my all-time favourite meal), but then halfway through I got a pain in my chest so I excused myself to the bathroom. I ended up coughing up blood into the toilet which was really scary and painful but this has never happened before so I'm hoping it's just a fluke. Which is why I didn't tell anyone. And I also had my first panic attack in 2 months so that's fun....</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">See you again tomorrow maybe,</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">Cyrus</span>
</p><p> </p><p>When he finished his entry, he shut the book closed and hid it in the back of his dresser drawer again.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>A week later, Cyrus was feeling a lot better. The incident hadn't happened again and he was beginning to relax, thinking it probably really was just a fluke. He exited the school after his last class, beginning to head home, when TJ came up behind him.</p><p>"Cyrus!" TJ exclaimed, starting to walk beside him. "You got anything going on tonight?"</p><p>"Uh, let me think," Cyrus said, stopping in place to close his eyes and run over his afternoon schedule in his head. When he was satisfied that his evening was clear, he opened his eyes and looked to TJ. "Nope, no plans tonight. And my teachers didn't assign any homework tonight, so that's a relief."</p><p>"Wow, you're lucky. I've got homework in almost every subject."</p><p>"Oh. That stinks."</p><p>"Yeah," TJ spoke. "Anyway, uh, I sort of failed yesterday's math homework and the teacher wants me to redo it tonight. But I really just don't get all this algebraic fraction stuff, it's so frustrating."</p><p>"It was really confusing for me at first too, but I practiced a lot this past week and now I understand it," Cyrus told him.</p><p>"That's great! So, I was um, wondering if you could maybe help me?" TJ asked.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, of course. Do you want me to video call you when we both get home?"</p><p>"Sure, that sounds good. Thank you Cyrus, I really appreciate it."</p><p>"No problem!"</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>After his virtual tutoring session with TJ, Cyrus had dinner with his parents again. This time, though, there were no complications, and he even joined in on their conversation. He was happy.</p><p>Once it was time to go to bed, he put on his favourite dinosaur PJs and found his journal and green pen again. He flopped down onto his bed and started to write.</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">Thursday, Jan. 23rd, 2020</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">9:08 PM</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">Today was a great day. I had no homework assigned at school, and I haven't coughed up blood at all in the past week so that's good. Maybe it was just a one time thing. Oh! TJ also needed help redoing his math homework from yesterday so I video called him and guided him through it. It was great. He's also so cute when he's concentrating like I can't. Why does he do this to me.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">Til next time,</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">Cyrus</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The next day, Cyrus was eating lunch in the cafeteria with his friends. Buffy and Andi were bugging Jonah about his crush on a new girl, and TJ was on his phone. Cyrus continued to eat his mac &amp; cheese for a bit, but then TJ turned to him to show him something on his phone.</p><p>"Look! It's you!" TJ teased as he pressed play on the short video. It basically consisted of an overexcited puppy jumping up at this young girl's legs and enthusiastically barking.</p><p>"But I'm not a girl," Cyrus stated in confusion.</p><p>"No, silly! I meant you're the hyper puppy trying to jump on her," TJ explained, laughing lightheartedly.</p><p>"Oh! Haha I get it," Cyrus said, although that was a lie. He didn't really get it. Why did a video of a puppy make TJ think of him? He felt like his heart was bursting in his chest, and realized he was starting to blush, so he looked down at his food and began to eat again.</p><p>A few minutes passed, and it happened again. He felt that sharp pain in his chest and dropped the plastic fork he was eating from, in fright. It had been eight days, so he thought this was over, but clearly it wasn't. He stood up out of his seat and excused himself to go to the washroom.</p><p>As soon as he'd left the cafeteria, he hurried to the boys restroom and opened the first stall door, immediately coughing up blood into the toilet like before. But it felt like there was more in his throat this time. He kept coughing, and then suddenly noticed a lavender-coloured petal (covered in blood, that is) come out of his mouth, fluttering down into the water.</p><p><em>What the?!?!</em> he thought to himself. He backed away from the toilet and grabbed his phone out of his pocket, immediately googling what just happened.</p><p>He stumbled upon a page on medicalhelp.org <strong>(A/N I just made that up, it's not a real site. I even checked and the domain isn't owned by anyone)</strong>. It said that his symptoms linked to a rare condition called Hanahaki Disease. It is caused by a bug that feeds off of unrequited love. As it develops, flowers grow in your lungs, causing you to cough up blood and petals, and eventually entire flowers. The only way to cure it is if the person you love returns your feelings. You can get surgery to remove it, but it takes away your feelings for that person completely, and in some rare cases, you lose the ablility to ever feel romantic love again. If not removed/cured, it is fatal, and you will die 7-28 days after you begin coughing up full flowers.</p><p>Cyrus locked his phone and stumbled backwards, his back hitting the sink. He sunk to the floor and curled himself into a ball, as tears began streaming down his face. <em>Why does this have to happen to me?! It's not fair!</em> he thought. <em>TJ is obviously never going to like me back, so my options are either death or never loving again. I can't die, I don't want to die. But my life is going to be miserable now anyway. Maybe my crush will go away! Yeah, I'll just avoid TJ. That'll be fine.</em></p><p>Immediately following this decision, he sat up and dried his eyes with the inside of his shirt — which was pretty thick, so it's not like the tear stains would show through — before standing up and shoving his phone into his pocket. He turned around towards the sink and turned it on, washing his hands. When he was satisfied with how he'd washed them, he cupped his hands underneath the water and began putting the water in his mouth to rinse the blood away. He couldn't risk anyone finding out about this; after all, he talks a lot to people and they would notice the blood when he opened his mouth to speak.</p><p>This was going to continue to stay a secret, because once again, he hated hospitals, and now he knew there was a chance of losing the ability of romantic love. He couldn't let that happen. He just had to go forward with his plan of avoiding TJ, and pray that his crush would disappear along with it.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The rest of the day went by pretty fast. After he had left the restroom, he went back to his friends in the cafeteria and told them he was going to study in the library for the rest of lunch. Then he proceeded to toss the rest of his meal, claiming he was full, and rushed out of the room, leaving no time for questions.</p><p>Now it was nearing the end of the day, and he was watching the clock, counting down the minutes to when the bell would ring. The time showed that there was only a few minutes left, but it felt like everything had slowed down to 10 percent. Cyrus just wanted to go home already, so he could forget that today had ever happened.</p><p>After waiting for seemed like an eternity, the sound finally went off to signal that class was dismissed. Right away, everyone grabbed their things and shuffled out of the door, wanting to start their weekend as soon as possible. Cyrus took a bit longer, struggling with the zipper on his English binder. He really needed to stop procrastinating cleaning out his old assignments, because there clearly was not enough room to fit anything else inside.</p><p>Eventually, he got it to close, and hurried out into the hallway, running to his locker. As he was almost there, he ran into someone and they both fell down. The other person was picking up their scattered textbooks, when Cyrus noticed who it was.</p><p>"I'm really sorry, TJ, I should've been watching more carefully where I was going," he apologized, laughing nervously.</p><p>"Don't worry about it, Underdog," TJ replied, standing back up with his books back in his arms. "You seem like you were in a hurry, so it's fine."</p><p>"Yeah, I just really gotta get home, uh," Cyrus quickly tried to think of a cover. "Lots of homework, you know."</p><p>"That stinks," TJ told him. "Maybe we could hang out tomorrow, though?"</p><p>"Sorry, I think I'm gonna be booked up all weekend with all this work, but um," Cyrus paused, not quite sure how to end the conversation. "Maybe next weekend!"</p><p>He mentally slapped himself in the face. <em>How am I meant to make plans to see him next weekend when I'm trying to avoid him? I don't want to hurt his feelings, but I can't be around him until my crush goes away. I am officially an idiot.</em></p><p>"Oh, okay, good luck with your homework then!" TJ gave him a small smile and waved goodbye, before heading in the opposite direction.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Cyrus grabbed his journal before bed, and wrote about his day and his worries. It didn't make him feel any better, though.</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">Friday, Jan. 24th, 2020</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">9:10 PM</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">It happened again today. You know, the incident from 8 days ago where I coughed up blood into the toilet? Except this time it was during lunch at school and instead of just blood AN ACTUAL FLOWER PETAL CAME OUT TOO!!! I looked it up and found out I have this thing called hanahaki from unrequited love and I'm really scared. It's apparently deadly if not surgically removed (or cured by having your feelings reciprocated which is obviously never going to happen). But a side effect of the surgery can possibly take away your ability to ever love romantically again and I really don't want that to happen so I've decided to just avoid TJ until my crush goes away and not tell anyone. I'm also terrified of hospitals so that makes it worse. I really hope this works because I really don't want to die.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">Sincerely,</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">Cyrus</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Two weeks went by and Cyrus found himself walking towards the swings after school. Every day at school, he'd been having lunch alone at the library and avoided opening any text messages from TJ. He really missed hanging out with him, but he knew that this was the only solution. After all, he hadn't had any symptoms since implementing this plan. So clearly, it was at least somewhat working, since the disease can't kill him until after it worsens to full flowers.</p><p>What he hadn't accounted for was that TJ would already be there, at his relaxation spot. The blonde was sat on his respective swing, slowly going back and forth, until he spotted Cyrus approaching and stopped. As soon as Cyrus saw who was on the swing, his eyes widened and he almost turned and ran. What stopped him though, was the realization that leaving would make his purposeful avoidance too obvious. And he knew that he didn't have it in him to do that to TJ, as it would definitely upset him.</p><p>Cyrus slowly approached the swings and sat down next to TJ.</p><p>"Hey," TJ greeted, timidly.</p><p>"Hi," Cyrus quietly responded.</p><p>"Have you been avoiding me?"</p><p>Cyrus turned to him. "Why would you think that?" he asked, carefully dodging the question.</p><p>"You haven't been looking at or responding to my texts, and you've been eating in the library recently. I see you in the halls with Andi and Buffy so I know you're not just distancing yourself from everyone. What's going on?" TJ wondered, concerned.</p><p>"Nothing's going on," Cyrus insisted. "I've just had a lot of schoolwork lately so I've been using the library to study."</p><p>"And the texts?"</p><p>"I haven't had time to go on my phone that much, I must've missed them. Sorry I worried you."</p><p>"Oh. That's okay, I'm just glad you're alright," TJ told him.</p><p>They swung in silence for awhile, letting the breeze flow through their hair, and forgetting all their worries. It all came back to Cyrus when TJ asked the one question he hoped he wouldn't.</p><p>"Do you want to sleep over tonight? We haven't really hung out in awhile and I have some new games we could play on my Xbox."</p><p>Cyrus' sudden internal panic got the best of him and he blurted out, "I can't!"</p><p>"Why not?"</p><p>"I have to uh... watch my pet bird!" He mentally slammed his head against a wall.</p><p>TJ burst out laughing, saying, "Cyrus, you hate birds." Then he got serious. "Cyrus, what's wrong? Why aren't you being honest with me?"</p><p>"I'm sorry, it's just..." Cyrus racked his brain for a true-ish cover. "I haven't had a sleepover in a while and last time it ruined my sleep schedule."</p><p>"Well, we don't have to stay up late if you don't want to. We can go to sleep whenever you want."</p><p>Cyrus bit his tongue, bracing himself for what he was about to say. "...okay, I guess I can ask my mom," he reluctantly agreed.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>That evening, after eating dinner with his family, Cyrus got a text from TJ asking if he'd asked his parents yet. He responded by saying that he was about to. Then he put his phone down on the table and focused his attention on his mother.</p><p>"Hey, mom?"</p><p>"Yeah, sweetie?" she replied, looking up from the book she was reading.</p><p>He searched his brain, trying to think of a way to ask her that would make her say no without explicitly telling her he didn't want to go. Obviously he wanted to be as discreet as possible; why make his mom suspicious?</p><p>"Can I sleep over at TJ's tonight?" Cyrus asked. "I know I have a ton of homework, and I didn't have time to do the dishes yet, but he really wants to hang out with me."</p><p>"Sure, sweetie. It's fine. Do you need me to drive you?" she offered.</p><p>"Are you sure? What about my chores?" he prodded.</p><p>"You sound like you don't <em>want</em> to go," she chuckled.</p><p>
  <em>Oh no, back up, back up!</em>
</p><p>"No, I do want to go!" he insisted. "I just wanted to make sure you were certain, because if you changed your mind last minute that would be inconvenient."</p><p>"I'm sure. You can have a day off of chores, Cyrus. You're always good with them," she said, confidently. "Besides, it's the weekend, you'd have plenty of time to make up for it if you really wanted to tomorrow or the next day."</p><p>"Oh... okay. Thanks," he spoke, trying to keep the hesitance out of his voice. "Also, I never answered about you driving me, but his house is close by so I can walk."</p><p>Standing up from the table, he grabbed his phone and texted TJ that his mom agreed. He then proceeded to head to his room to pack a bag.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It was currently 7:03 pm. As Cyrus walked up the front steps to TJ's house, a thousand anxieties fought inside his mind. This was really, <em>really</em> not a good idea. He was doing so well with avoiding TJ and not getting symptoms. How had he gotten himself into this situation?</p><p>He was about to just turn around and sprint back home, far away from the gorgeous blonde athlete who was unknowingly killing him, when the door swung open.</p><p>"Cyrus, you made it!" TJ beamed, combing his fingers through his hair.</p><p>He smiled timidly, "yep, here I am."</p><p>TJ gestured for him to come inside. "Come on, I've got the Xbox all set up."</p><p>Cyrus nervously followed the older into his home, setting down his bag as he took off his shoes.</p><p>He felt the pain in his chest again.</p><p>"Uh, where's the bathroom?" he asked as calmly as possible.</p><p>"Oh, it's just down the hall to the left," TJ said, simply. "I'll go pick out some games to choose from. And the living room is over there, where I'll be." TJ finished by pointing over to the left of where they were standing.</p><p>"Cool, I'll be there soon."</p><p>And with that, Cyrus rushed through the house, finding the bathroom and hurrying inside. Once the door was locked, he began to vomit up blood into his crush's toilet, followed by a couple of those same lavender flower petals that he still hadn't identified.</p><p><em>Here we go again</em>, he thought.</p><p>After he flushed the toilet, he wiped it down, making sure there were no stray drops of blood left to be found. When he was done, he started verbally assaulting himself in his head.</p><p>
  <em>Why am I so stupid? I should have just lied and told him I was sick. But I'm such a fool that I can't even lie to my crush when it's for my own health and well being! Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid—</em>
</p><p>His thoughts were cut short when a knock sounded on the door.</p><p>"Are you alright?" TJ asked through the door, light concern in his voice. "You've been in there awhile."</p><p>"Yep!" Cyrus shouted out. "Just washing my hands. Can never be too careful!"</p><p>"Okay, well that's true I guess," TJ replied, walking back to the living room.</p><p>At the sound of the steps walking away, Cyrus breathed a sigh of relief.</p><p>He washed the blood off of his hands from when he had to block it before reaching the toilet, and then rinsed his mouth out. After that, he made sure to thoroughly rinse the sink of any remaining bloody water. He dried his hands, and unlocked the door before walking out and striding towards the living room.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>About an hour later, they decided they were finished with all the video games, including Kinect Joy Ride where they basically had to pretend they were holding an invisible steering wheel. TJ put all the game discs back and then plopped down on the couch next to Cyrus.</p><p>"I don't know why I just realized," Cyrus suddenly spoke, "but where are your parents?"</p><p>"Oh, they had a really busy day today so they went to bed early," TJ told him.</p><p>"They do know I'm here, right?"</p><p>"Of course they do," TJ laughed. "I'm not some crazy teenage rebel, Underdog. I just used to handle my emotions pretty poorly at school, which <em>you</em> helped me stop doing."</p><p>Cyrus smiled softly. "I know. I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget or anything."</p><p>TJ smiled back, before he seemed to suddenly think of something.</p><p>"Hey! You wanna play truth or dare?" TJ asked, with a mischievous smile.</p><p>"Not with <em>that</em> look on your face, I don't," Cyrus responded.</p><p>"Please?" TJ begged with fake puppy-dog eyes.</p><p>"TJ!" Cyrus whined, still worried about having to reveal something he shouldn't.</p><p>"Come on, it'll be fun! I promise I'll go easy on you."</p><p>"...fine," he finally agreed.</p><p>"Okay, truth or dare?" TJ questioned excitedly, propping himself up on the couch so he was facing Cyrus.</p><p>"Um, truth." He really hoped it wouldn't be anything related to health or romance. <em>Wow. That's a weird combination I never thought I'd think of together.</em></p><p>"What's your least favourite holiday?"</p><p>"Halloween?" Cyrus answered, slightly unsure.</p><p>"Really? Why?"</p><p>"Well I still like it, it's just a bit creepy and all. And going up to random people's houses to get candy <em>kinda</em> goes against the whole stranger-danger thing you're taught as a kid, you know?"</p><p>"Fair point," TJ agreed. "I don't know, I kinda thought you'd say Valentine's Day. You've never mentioned any of that sort of thing."</p><p>"Well, neither have <em>you</em>," Cyrus countered, a sudden bout of confidence going through him.</p><p>"Touché."</p><p>"Truth or dare?"</p><p>"Dare."</p><p>Cyrus smirked. "I dare you to... pick five random leftover items from your fridge, blend them into a smoothie, and drink it!"</p><p>"Hey! No fair!" TJ protested. "I said I would go easy on you, why do <em>I</em> get the bad stuff?"</p><p>"Okay, okay, fine. Relax," Cyrus laughed. "I dare you to do a handstand for 10 seconds."</p><p>"Now, <em>that</em>, I can do," TJ said, jumping up from the couch.</p><p>TJ completed the handstand easily. When done, he lay down on the carpeted floor in front of the couch, resting his hands behind his head.</p><p>"Why do you have to make everything look so easy?" Cyrus complained.</p><p>"Oh, come on, there are lots of things you're good at that I'm not," TJ insisted.</p><p>"Like what?"</p><p>"Math. Screenplay writing. Tater theatre. Genuinely helping people. Must I go on?"</p><p>Cyrus was bright red at this point, but tried to hide it by pulling the couch blanket up over his face.</p><p>"Nope, th-that's enough," Cyrus stuttered.</p><p>"Alright, my turn!" TJ sat up and folded his hands in his lap. "Truth or dare?"</p><p>"Truth."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It went on like this for awhile until at some point, TJ decided to switch it up a bit.</p><p>"Truth or dare?" Cyrus asked.</p><p>"You know what? I'm gonna go with truth this time. I'd rather just lie here a bit longer," he chuckled, now on his stomach with his face propped up by his hands.</p><p>Cyrus decided to just go for it. He couldn't hold back the question any longer. "Do you have a crush?"</p><p>TJ seemed to freeze for a moment. When he came back to reality, he answered timidly, "um... yeah."</p><p>"Ooh, who is it? Spill!" Cyrus spoke rapidly, despite knowing that it would <em>not</em> be good for his heart to hear of TJ crushing on some pretty girl way better than himself.</p><p>"Ah ah ah, that's not how this works," TJ told him. "One question per turn."</p><p>"Well then get on with it, it's your turn!"</p><p>TJ picked up his phone and saw it was 9:37. He locked it and looked back up at Cyrus, saying, "actually, we should be getting to sleep. It's getting late and you don't want to mess up your schedule, right?"</p><p>"TJ! Just one more round? Please?"</p><p>"Now who's the one begging. Why do you wanna know so badly?"</p><p>"I'm just curious. You should know by now that I'm a very curious person."</p><p>"What if I don't want to tell you?" TJ raised an eyebrow.</p><p>"But I won't judge you! I promise! I don't care who you like," Cyrus assured him. Then he added in a joking voice, "it's not <em>your</em> fault if someone dies because you don't like them!"</p><p>TJ burst out laughing, and Cyrus forced himself to laugh along with him. "Ah, that's a good one, Cy."</p><p>
  <em>Okay, so he probably hasn't heard of Hanahaki, since he actually bought my act that I was joking.</em>
</p><p>"Well I am known for my humour," Cyrus joked, for real this time.</p><p>"You sure are," TJ smirked, and Cyrus felt his heartbeat speed up in his chest. "But really, we need to go to sleep. Maybe I'll tell you another time, but for now, it'll be a mystery."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>In the morning, after getting changed into their daytime clothes, they went to the kitchen to have breakfast. There, they found that TJ's mother was already making pancakes.</p><p>"Hey mom," TJ spoke, grabbing her attention.</p><p>"Hey sweetie," she greeted, turning around at the stove to face them. "Is this Cyrus?"</p><p>"Yeah, that's me," Cyrus responded, giving her a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you."</p><p>She shook his hand and said, "it's nice to meet you too, glad you could finally come over!"</p><p>"Finally?" Cyrus asked, confused. He looked over at TJ for an explanation, who just shrugged.</p><p>When Cyrus turned his gaze back to TJ's mom, TJ shot her a look that said, '<em>you'd better not mess this up.</em>'</p><p>"Oh, it's just that TJ mentioned having you as a new friend awhile ago but you haven't been over until now," she explained.</p><p>"Alright then," Cyrus nodded, blindly accepting her words as true.</p><p>"Now, who wants what on their pancakes?" she asked. "We have maple syrup, table syrup, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and peaches."</p><p>"I'll take table syrup with all the fruit," TJ answered immediately.</p><p>Cyrus thought for a minute. "Could I have maple syrup and raspberries, please?"</p><p>"Of course, coming right up," she told Cyrus sweetly, and glared at TJ before preparing both plates.</p><p>As they went and sat down at the table, Cyrus whispered to TJ, "what was that about?"</p><p>"I think it's because I forgot to 'ask nicely,'" TJ whispered back with air quotes, rolling his eyes playfully.</p><p>Cyrus giggled, a feeling of elation going through him, while TJ laughed along.</p><p>"You should've said please," he pointedly told the blonde, before laughing again.</p><p>Soon, TJ's mom came over and brought them their breakfast, and they both thanked her before digging in.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Over the next week, Cyrus tried to begin discreetly avoiding TJ again, without him noticing this time, but failed epically. He ended up sitting with his friends again (including TJ) every day at school, and allowing TJ to approach and talk to him normally in the halls.</p><p>The incident happened three more times that week, the first being on Tuesday while he was getting ready for school.</p><p>He had been in the middle of getting changed, but then at the point where he was in half pyjamas, half school clothes, he suddenly felt that same chest pain again. Upon feeling the pain make its way up his throat, he bolted across the hall and started violently throwing up his blood and three flower petals into the toilet.</p><p>After cleaning it all up and finding out his mouth, he continued his morning routine as normal. He just hoped that today he wouldn't fail at his avoidance like he had the previous day.</p><p>But, lo and behold, he got sucked into the eyes of the dreamy star basketball player once again. Why couldn't he just stay away? Oh, that's right. He had a big fat crush. Which was what caused this whole situation in the first place. It was, unfortunately, a vicious loop.</p><p>The second time it happened that week, was in the middle of the night. It was 11:46 pm on Wednesday, February the 12, and Cyrus had just woken up from a particularly frightening dream. He headed downstairs to grab a glass of milk, but halfway from the staircase to the kitchen, he had to run to the bathroom as before.</p><p>He still went and had the milk afterwards, though. He probably needed it even more after throwing up five petals this time.</p><p>The final time the incident plagued him was when it all came crashing down. It was Friday, at around 6:30 in the evening, and he was eating dessert, with all four of his parents this time. He had about a fifth of his ice cream left, savouring each bite of the white-chocolatey goodness, when there was a sudden intense stab feeling in his chest, making its way upwards. It was almost 3 times as painful as the last incident, and he didn't even excuse himself before jumping up and shooting off towards the nearest washroom.</p><p>His spoon was left clattering onto the floor as his parents all shouted after him. Variations of "what happened?!" and "are you okay?" rang through the house as Cyrus coughed up petal after petal of the tragically beautiful blood-coated flowers with a pretty lavender colour he would never be able to enjoy again.</p><p>But something was still stuck in his throat. He coughed and rasped and hacked again and again with only blood coming out, until finally a much larger solid finally squeezed through and dropped into the toilet. <em>Crud. It's an entire flower.</em></p><p>"Um, mom?" he croaked out as loud as he could.</p><p>"What's wrong, honey? Are you alright?" his mother called back.</p><p>"Could you uh... come to the door?"</p><p>He heard footsteps quickly approaching and made sure the door was locked before sitting on the edge of the bathtub. The doorknob rattled for a moment before stopping.</p><p>"Sweetie, what's going on? Are you sick?"</p><p>"Don't come in, just... I need to tell you something," he spoke, nervously.</p><p>"What is it that you need to tell me?"</p><p>"Um... so... I uh, I, well, I don't really know how to put this," Cyrus started, squeezing his eyes shut and taking a deep breath. "But I think... um... you may need to take me to the hospital."</p><p>"I'm coming in. Unlock this door," she demanded.</p><p>"Mom, I don't think that's really necessary, I-"</p><p>"I'm not giving you a choice, Cyrus. Either unlock the door or I'm getting a coin from Todd to open it.</p><p>Cyrus stood up and turned the lock, before slowly opening the bathroom door. He sat back down on the tub and hugged his chest, looking down as his mother entered.</p><p>Her eyes immediately landed on the drops of blood covering the toilet, shocking her. Although, she probably should've expected it to be bad if her son, who is terrified of hospitals, was willingly asking her to take him to one.</p><p>"Oh my goodness! What happened?!" she exclaimed.</p><p>She stepped closer to the toilet and saw the flower there, which was surrounded by other blood-coated petals, immediately informing her of what was happening. Leslie turned to her son sitting on the edge of the bathtub, with his head down and arms wrapped around his torso, and leaned down to hug him.</p><p>"Sweetheart, I promise you we will get through this, okay?" she tried to soothe him, rubbing circles on his back. "I'm right here with you, and I won't leave your side throughout this time."</p><p>"M-mom I'm s-so s-sorry," Cyrus sobbed out, which was how she noticed he was crying.</p><p>"Baby, you have nothing to be sorry about. Why are you sorry?"</p><p>"Thi-this is-n't the f-first time."</p><p>"How long has this been going on?"</p><p>"Um, I think a-b-bout a month," he mumbled.</p><p>"A month?" she asked, sadly. "You should've told me sooner."</p><p>"I-I know, but I just-" He sniffled, cutting himself off. "You know I hate hospitals and I-I was just so scared and I thought it could go away with avoidance and it was working for a couple w-weeks but then I gave in and stopped the avoidance and it just got worse. An-and now tonight it-it was the breaking point because it was an entire flower for the first time and I just d-don't know what to d-do."</p><p>He started crying again, and his mom just held him tighter and tried to comfort him more.</p><p>"I'm really scared, mama," he told her. "What if something goes wrong? Or-or what if that rare s-side effect happens to me? My life would be ruined..."</p><p>"It's all gonna be okay. I'm here, and I won't let anything happen to you."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Half an hour later, all five of them were finally at the hospital. There was about an approximate wait time of 45 minutes, so they just sat in the waiting room trying to entertain themselves somehow.</p><p>Leslie had brought a blanket for Cyrus to wear around his shoulders to comfort him, and he was currently playing a music game on his phone with earphones in.</p><p>She tapped his shoulder to get his attention, and he took out an earbud and turned to face her.</p><p>"I'm sorry if I interrupted your game, but I was wondering if there were any of your friends you wanted me to call?" she asked him gently. "It might give you something more to do if they were here."</p><p>Cyrus thought for a moment. "Just Andi and Buffy. But please don't make it seem like a big thing, I don't want them to freak out."</p><p>"That's all? Are you sure? What about that boy TJ that invited you over last week?"</p><p><em>If only she knew what a terrible idea that is</em>, Cyrus thought. But it's not like he would ever have the guts to tell her.</p><p>"N-no, that's okay. I don't want to worry him, but Andi and Buffy would kill me if I didn't tell them."</p><p>"Alright, honey, I'll just call those two if you want."</p><p>"Thanks, mom," he said, and returned to his game.</p><p>Within about twenty minutes, Buffy and Andi were rushing through the hospital doors along with Bex and Bowie. When they spotted Cyrus among all the chairs in the waiting area, they immediately headed over and his two best friends hugged him one after the other. He locked his phone and smiled slightly at them.</p><p>"Cyrus! Are you okay?" Andi asked.</p><p>"I'm so sorry this is happening!" Buffy spoke next.</p><p>"We came as soon as we heard," Andi informed him.</p><p>"It's okay, guys," he assured them. "Really, I'm fine. It'll all be over soon, I just really need you guys to stay calm so I don't freak out. Can you please do that for me?"</p><p>"Of course, Cy. I'm sorry, we didn't mean to overwhelm you," Buffy apologized.</p><p>"I'm sorry, too," Andi said, softly.</p><p>"Thank you," he whispered.</p><p>Around five minutes passed of all three kids just sitting next to each other on their phones, when Buffy realized something.</p><p>"Wait, is TJ coming?"</p><p>"No, I didn't tell him," Cyrus answered, quickly. "And you guys can't either!"</p><p>"Why not?" Buffy was confused.</p><p>"I just don't want to worry him, it's not a big deal. Please don't tell him. I only let my mom call you guys because I knew you'd be mad if you found out I kept it from you."</p><p>"Fine," Buffy agreed.</p><p>"What do you even need the surgery for? Your mom wouldn't tell us," Andi told him.</p><p>
  <em>So <strong>that's</strong> why they haven't asked me who I have it for yet.</em>
</p><p>"It's nothing," he lied.</p><p>"It's not nothing if you need surgery," Andi stated.</p><p>Cyrus sighed heavily and relented, "I...I sort of have this...thing."</p><p>"Wow, you have a thing. Very helpful."</p><p>"Come <em>on</em>, Cyrus. Just tell us!" Buffy spoke, exasperated.</p><p>"I have Hanahaki," he mumbled.</p><p>"You have <em>what</em>?" Buffy said.</p><p>"I thought that was a myth," Andi thought aloud.</p><p>"How long?" Buffy asked him, concernedly.</p><p>"About a month..." he confessed.</p><p>"A MONTH?!" Buffy nearly screamed.</p><p>"Why are you only here <em>now</em>?" Andi wondered, alarmed.</p><p>"Wait, I thought you said your crush on Jonah was gone?" Buffy questioned, quietly so the others wouldn't hear.</p><p>"That's still true..." he admitted, timidly.</p><p>"Oh my gosh," Buffy said in realization. "Do you like..."</p><p>She dropped her voice to a whisper. "Do you like TJ?"</p><p>He gulped and looked down. "Yeah."</p><p>"This makes so much sense, I don't know why I didn't see it sooner!" Buffy exclaimed, although still whispering.</p><p>"He <em>so</em> likes you back," Andi spoke quietly to him. "Buffy and I have been talking about it for ages."</p><p>"We have to get him here!" Buffy insisted, excitedly but softly.</p><p>"Guys, no! You're wrong, okay? You can't say anything, it'll ruin everything. Please, Buffy? Andi?" he voiced, desperately.</p><p>"Cyrus, just trust us. I'm 99% sure on this, but I won't tell until we get confirmation," Buffy assured him.</p><p>"Fine, you can try to get your 'confirmation,'" Cyrus conceded, hand on his face. "But you have to promise me you won't mess this up!"</p><p>"I promise," Buffy said, and linked her pinky with his.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>~Groupchat: Buffy, Andi, TJ~</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">Buffy:</span> TJ, you like Cyrus, right?</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">TJ:</span> what are you talking about?</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">Andi:</span> Come on, it's obvious</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">Buffy:</span> You're not in trouble, we</p><p>just want to know for sure. Do</p><p>you like him as more than a</p><p>friend?</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">TJ:</span> ugh fine.... yeah i do</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">Buffy:</span> Oh my gosh! Ok, you</p><p>need to get down to the hospital</p><p>immediately!</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">TJ:</span> why, what's happening?!</p><p>is Cyrus okay??</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">Andi:</span> what's happening is he</p><p>has hanahaki for you and he's</p><p>being taken into surgery in like</p><p>15 minutes so you need to get</p><p>your butt down here and</p><p>confess before it's too late!!</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">TJ:</span> oh my- are you serious??</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">Buffy:</span> Who do you think we are,</p><p>Kippen?! Of course we're</p><p>serious!</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">TJ:</span> I'm on my way, I'll be there</p><p>in 10 minutes or less, if they</p><p>decide to take him in early you</p><p>have to stall them!</p><p> </p><p><span class="u">Andi:</span> We'll do what we can!</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Ten minutes later, just like he promised, TJ burst through the doors to the hospital and immediately spotted Cyrus across the room. He ran over and anxiously started speaking.</p><p>"Cyrus, why didn't you tell me you were here?"</p><p>Cyrus looked over at Buffy with frightened eyes and mouthed, 'why?'</p><p>Buffy responded by mouthing back, 'trust me.'</p><p>"I didn't want to worry you," he muttered.</p><p>"Cy, you know I'll always be here for you. If you're sick, I don't want you to keep it from me," TJ told him, and Cyrus was glad his parents had gone to get a snack before TJ arrived. He'd told his mom it was okay because his friends were with him.</p><p>"I'm sorry."</p><p>"You don't need to apologize," TJ said, gently. "Can uh...can I talk to you in private?"</p><p>Again, Cyrus looked at Buffy in fear. <em>This is the part where I get rejected</em>, he thought. <em>This is the part where he tells me he's sorry but he's straight and insists we can't be as close anymore or hug or something like that, right? I've already gone through enough humiliation, why does this have to happen to me?</em></p><p>But Buffy just mouthed, 'talk to him. I promise it will be okay.'</p><p>Cyrus slowly stood up and put his phone in his pocket. "Okay. Um, there's an unused hall nearby if you want to talk there?" he suggested nervously, remembering all the research he did on this hospital after he found out about his Hanahaki.</p><p>They both quietly walked together to the empty hall that Cyrus had mentioned, and TJ turned to face the shorter brunette.</p><p>"So...did Buffy or Andi tell you about our texts?"</p><p>"No, but they only wanted you here for one reason so I'm guessing they told you everything," Cyrus sighed.</p><p>"Underdog," TJ spoke, as he grabbed both of Cyrus' hands. "I'm-I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner, but... I was scared."</p><p>"Scared of what?"</p><p>"Of how you'd react. That maybe you wouldn't want to be around me anymore. That I'd lose you, because you'd hate me."</p><p>"I could never hate you," Cyrus promised him.</p><p>"Cyrus, I really like you, as more than a friend. You mean the world to me, and it hurts that I almost didn't get to save you," TJ avowed. "I mean, that comment you made trying to get it out of me at my house should've tipped me off, but I had forgotten about this condition. You said it like it was a joke, but it wasn't. It's not a joke."</p><p>"Teej, it's okay. And I really like you, too, if it wasn't already obviously more than kind-of like," Cyrus admitted, smiling shyly.</p><p>"Can-can I kiss you?" TJ asked.</p><p>"Yeah, if you want," Cyrus blushed.</p><p>At that moment, TJ leaned forward, still holding Cyrus' hands, and placed their lips together, kissing him softly. He released one of his hands and reached up to the back of his head, gently pulling their faces closer together, if possible. After about 6 seconds, they pulled away, and Cyrus put his hands in his pockets, looking down at his feet and blushing again.</p><p>"Cy?" TJ suddenly spoke.</p><p>Cyrus lifted his head up to meet the older's gaze.</p><p>"Yeah?" he replied, and the first thing he noticed was how much easier it was to speak.</p><p>"Will you be my boyfriend?"</p><p>"I would love to," he said, and pulled his new boyfriend into a hug.</p><p>When they separated, TJ told him, "I should probably get going. Text me when you get home?"</p><p>"Definitely," Cyrus assured, and they gave each other one last smile and wave before heading their respective ways.</p><p>Boy, did he have some explaining to do to his parents. The only question was how he was going to do that without letting them know who it was.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heyyyy!!! It's finally done lol. I started this in April but I had a lot of long breaks without the motivation because this was a hard one to write. Also long oneshots in general are hard to find the motivation for to finish. It's easier to just write 1k to 2k words of minimal to no angst, than something like this, you know?</p><p>Speaking of which, this is my longest oneshot EVER! Yes, I've even topped "I Didn't Mean To!" of over 5k words. Because this one is over 7.5k words. Wow. I honestly don't know how I did that. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed this and please leave a comment and/or a vote if you liked it! Have a wonderful day/night, everyone.</p><p>'Til next time,<br/>                     Amber</p></blockquote></div></div>
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